Stuffed Bison Patties

Hey!! Long time no talk. I’m back. Yaaaaaay!!!! Ok relax now, you’re going to make a scene.

My kitchen smells like raw meat for some reason. Or at least, that’s what I think I’m smelling… Constantly. Cannot be the case, though, since I do not keep my raw meat anywhere besides the meat drawer in my fridge. I will seriously freak out if I find a chunk of raw meat somewhere. Ewwww. Maybe I should mop.

I’d like to introduce to you our newest house pet, Francois, a friendly, bug-eating lizard (according to my future father-in-law). I originally named him Frank, then Kelli said to name him Francis, so I upped it once more to Francois because he’s just THAT fancy. Since discovering Francois on Saturday (now Wednesday), I check on him regularly. Yesterday I noticed he was in the same exact spot at two different times in the day. I feared he starved to death, until I noticed on the third check-up he moved to a new location on this foam pad. Following my discovery of the still-living lizard, the fiance and I had a serious conversation regarding catching bugs for him to eat. Instead I threw down some dog food in hopes he isn’t picky.

Francois on 3 inch foam

Francois’ Dog Food

And with that, I will move on to my stuffed bison patties. My first experience with buying ground bison – I step to the meat counter at Whole Foods and request, “One pound of ground bison, please” then ask, “it’s grass fed right?” I felt a little silly when the guy smirked (making me think he’s thinking “good thing she’s pretty”) and said, “All bison is grass fed.” As if I am expected to know this, based off all the trickery of American farmers these days?! I still do not know if I believe that information, but I rarely 100% believe anything anyone tells me… working on it.

Prior to purchasing this meat, I knew bison was very lean, which means it lacks flavor. Because of this, I chose to attempt a stuffed bison patty, as to add flavor, moisture and a touch of veggies – and it worked! Most recent success with this recipe = Last Sunday we celebrated my future brother-in-law’s birthday, and while he and the future parents-in-law finished watching a movie at a theater, Scott and I (mostly I) prepared dinner for everyone to eat upon their arrival home. As my first time to cook an entire meal for anyone besides myself and one other person, I feel pretty good about the whole experience 🙂

Stuffed Bison Patties

1lb Ground Bison (1/2lb per person)

4 Bacon Slices

1/2 Cup Fresh Spinach (smash it into a half cup)

5 Cloves Garlic

1/3 White Onion (large-ish in size)

1 Jalapeno (medium-ish in size)

Goat Cheese (*gasp*!! say what?! Optional)

Garlic Powder

Cayenne Pepper

Step 1: MAKE PATTY STUFFING. In your food processor, combine the spinach, garlic, onion and jalapeno until minced thoroughly. This will create more than enough stuffing for two patties, but I like to save the extra to use in other food combos (also my food processor requires a minimum amount of “stuff” in order to chop, you can try lower measurements in yours if you don’t want extra).

Bison Stuffing

Step 2 & 3: BACON FRY AND PATTY PREP. Due to the leanness of the bison, I choose to fry bacon (on heat level 6 of 10) to grease the pan, and eat it either as an appetizer (to prevent “hanger” aka hungry/anger) or with the bison burgers. While the bacon cooks, separate your bison into four (4) patties, and flatten them. Sprinkle garlic powder on two of the patties and cayenne on the other two. Then dab about 1-2 TBS worth of stuffing on the center of the garlic-ed patties. At this time, I get a little CRAZY and top mine, and only mine, with goat cheese because I like to break my own rules sometimes. Then, cayenne peppered side down, top the garlic/stuffing-ed patties and pinch the ends together to seal. You may need to wet your fingers with water to assist in this.

Separate patties, place stuffing, top with other patty, cook covered

Step 4: PATIENTLY COOK PATTIES. With bacon lard still lingering in pan, lower heat to medium (level 5 of 10) and place both patties down and cover (to preserve moisture!) for about 15 minutes. DO NOT FLIP for at least 15 minutes. If you flip your patties more than once, moisture is lost. You want to let it cook for at least 15 minutes before you flip ONCE and let cook an additional one (1) minute before removing from pan. Internal temperature should reach 160 degrees.

In this pic I put seasoning on outside, BUT I prefer adding to internal sides of patties. I also had a baked veggie medley on the side.

Step 3: STARE AT IT. Just kidding. EAT IT. I like to top mine with sliced avocado. It also tastes wonderful with sauteed spinach, mushrooms and onions on top. Fiance loves to pair it with baked potato slices. Do as you wish. Either way, you’re welcome. And enjoy! 🙂